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*Please do not arrive early as access to the school may be refused.

Please join us to give your views on potential options to improve hospital and local care services across east Kent.

The NHS and social care partners in east Kent want to improve services for local people. We want people to get as much care and support as possible from their GP practice and local health and care teams. And we want to make sure they can get the best, most effective, hospital care if they need it.

This is the next step in conversations we’ve been having with staff, patients and the public over recent years about why change is needed and how services could be improved.

Some changes are already happening, for example, it is now possible to pre-book evening and weekend appointments with GPs, nurses or other health professionals wherever you live in east Kent; we are joining up care for people with the most complex conditions and helping them to stay well and independent at home; and we are starting to hold more outpatient clinics in local communities.

You’ve told us you want to hear more about these changes and we will be doing just that, as well as getting your views on what more we could do to care for you closer to home.

Some of you will remember that two potential options to improve hospital care in east Kent were published last November. These public events will update you on the two options and gather your feedback to help shape the final proposals.

At the meetings we will explain:

the benefits change could bring

how services outside hospitals are developing to maximise the care people get locally

how the two options for hospital services might affect people across east Kent

the next steps towards public consultation.

These informal meetings with local communities ahead of any formal consultation next year are a chance for local people and organisations representing patients to hear more about our work so far and to help us understand the potential impact of the options we are looking at.

We want to continue to gather a range of insights on the latest phase of our work. These views will be considered by the joint committee of east Kent Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), before it decides whether both options for changes to hospital services go forward for public consultation.

The content at each event will be fundamentally the same, although discussions will focus on the potential impact of the options on people in the area where the event is being held.